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[Q] Treat sd card as internal memory?

I have been searching for some time and cant find a definite answer on the subject,
is there a way to make android believe your sd card is internal storage? i dont plan on needing to remove my sd card, once i have it in, theres no point in removing it. So is there a hack/mod to allow the OS to believe the sd card is internal storage?
i have a desire so the internal memory is pretty damn low, especially with new games coming out that require 400mb+ of memory, thats almost the full internal drive.
anyways. any information is appreciated thanks

Sounds like you're asking about apps2sd. Yes it is possible, though you'll need a rooted phone and a ROM which supports it.

alright, well i have googles fail of app2sd on android 2.2
but a rooted app2sd+ or other style of app2sd actually allows for the sd card to be treated as though it is internal storage? or i still need to install, and then move to external.
in other words i guess, is there a way to make the sd card be treated similary to how it is in windows phone 7, or is hte conventional install, them move, which would render games with 400mb+ impossible to be installed on phones like the desire and N1?

JimmyBanks said:
alright, well i have googles fail of app2sd on android 2.2
but a rooted app2sd+ or other style of app2sd actually allows for the sd card to be treated as though it is internal storage? or i still need to install, and then move to external.
in other words i guess, is there a way to make the sd card be treated similary to how it is in windows phone 7, or is hte conventional install, them move, which would render games with 400mb+ impossible to be installed on phones like the desire and N1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that with a custom ROM like Cyanogen there is a system option to install apps (in correlation with app2sd) as default to any location you choose, I have mine to install on External, so any new app's I download from the market are automatically installed to the External storage (SDcard).
So, yes?

SD Card - System Memory - Internal Memory !

Hi all,
I've got some questions regarding the phone's memory.
When I open the App Manager and I click on "Storage" it shows me that the phone has:
System Memory
Internal Memory
SD Card
Using the app "App 2 SD" my apps are transferred only from either System memory to Internal memory or vice-versa.
This App 2 SD seems not to send my apps to my EXTERNAL SD Card (where I have plenty of memory).
Could someone please explain the different between system and internal memory?
And, once and for all, how can I move/transfer ALL apps downloaded from the market to my EXTERNAL SD Card?
Can I do that manually? how?
Another app from the market? which one?
And how about the Gameloft games? is there any way to move them?
Another question is that after updating for the GB some apps seem to open themselves and they keep running on the background (i.e. Google Maps, LG Smart etc), is there anything that can be done to stop them to start?
Thanks in advance,
J

tourjefferson said:
Hi all,
I've got some questions regarding the phone's memory.
When I open the App Manager and I click on "Storage" it shows me that the phone has:
System Memory
Internal Memory
SD Card
Using the app "App 2 SD" my apps are transferred only from either System memory to Internal memory or vice-versa.
This App 2 SD seems not to send my apps to my EXTERNAL SD Card (where I have plenty of memory).
Could someone please explain the different between system and internal memory?
And, once and for all, how can I move/transfer ALL apps downloaded from the market to my EXTERNAL SD Card?
Can I do that manually? how?
Another app from the market? which one?
And how about the Gameloft games? is there any way to move them?
Another question is that after updating for the GB some apps seem to open themselves and they keep running on the background (i.e. Google Maps, LG Smart etc), is there anything that can be done to stop them to start?
Thanks in advance,
J
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system memory is the memory reserved for the OS and its applications. Internal memory is the rest of the phones memory that is used to store anything else (included apps you move with app2sd)
To move gameloft games to the external sd there is a thread so look it up a bit.
As for apps running themselves it is the way android works. It keeps running apps it "thinks" you might use so when you actually use them the load a lot faster. No worries there as when your phone needs the extra memory (running an HD game for example) it shuts down all apps that are not necessary. If you still want to prevent them from running you can use a task manager to freeze them but you need root.

jimakos29 said:
system memory is the memory reserved for the OS and its applications. Internal memory is the rest of the phones memory that is used to store anything else (included apps you move with app2sd)
To move gameloft games to the external sd there is a thread so look it up a bit.
As for apps running themselves it is the way android works. It keeps running apps it "thinks" you might use so when you actually use them the load a lot faster. No worries there as when your phone needs the extra memory (running an HD game for example) it shuts down all apps that are not necessary. If you still want to prevent them from running you can use a task manager to freeze them but you need root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for your reply.
I have seen the thread regarding Gameloft games, but if I'm not mistaken my phone need to be rooted, which I'm not planning to do any time soon. So that thread doesn't help me to get rid of the games from my internal memory.
Also, the App 2 SD app doesn't send the apps that I have in the internal memory to the external SD. It keeps sending the apps to(or from) internal and system memory.
So, I've got an empty external SD card that I can't transfer anything there even using an app that supposed to do that.
Is there anyway that I can move the apps manually?
Regarding the apps that keep running without need, that didn't happen when I had Froyo and it seems to me that running several apps on the background can cost my battery juice, so this is not so clever.

Apps did run in background on froyo as I rooted specifically to stop some but maybe they were not doing so when you checked as they stop in certain circumstances.
As for the sd thing you are right and it sucks but for some reason lg made it so when we choose install to sd it goes to internal sd card and I have yet to find way around this though for me its not a problem as I use my actual external sd card as storage for camera app and backups instead but the internal one will fit plenty of apps on.
Dave
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk

I noticed too my 32gb external card is not used by app2sd apps.
Now i swapped the cards in a configfile, and after restart i have 32gb internal sd and 8gb external so it is working.
I got this from the folloing thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189701

But won't that mean that mess up apps or cause problems, for example if you click to format or unmount external sd wont it try doing that to the internal one?
Dave

Of course, you should not take out the sd or format it after the switch. If you format internal sd, it would in fact format the external sd. Flashing to a new rom wil just use the internal sd again. Just be carefull. You can copy data to your computer as backup before you try this.
I like this sofar, my downloads, photos, films and music is placed directly on the big sd now.
Peter

Pjedr said:
Of course, you should not take out the sd or format it after the switch. If you format internal sd, it would in fact format the external sd. Flashing to a new rom wil just use the internal sd again. Just be carefull. You can copy data to your computer as backup before you try this.
I like this sofar, my downloads, photos, films and music is placed directly on the big sd now.
Peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All my photos films and music are on external sd already and I still have four gigabytes of the internal sd card free so will stick with things as they are rather than hack it though is nice to know it is possible
Dave

mistermentality said:
All my photos films and music are on external sd already and I still have four gigabytes of the internal sd card free so will stick with things as they are rather than hack it though is nice to know it is possible
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, but I don't have space lol
Anyway, found out that the problem with app running themselves on the background are worst than I first thought.
All kinds of apps seem to start themselves and keep running, that caused my phone to loose a 100% battery over the night!
Is anyone having this problem?

Are you sure its the apps? I had severe battery drain and had to calibrate it then let it die and recharge while off to sort it.
I also rooted and use gemini app manager to stop apps auto running.
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk

mistermentality said:
Are you sure its the apps? I had severe battery drain and had to calibrate it then let it die and recharge while off to sort it.
I also rooted and use gemini app manager to stop apps auto running.
Sent from my LG-P920 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm 99% sure that the problem are the apps running.
Before, with Froyo, I didn't have this problem (apps starting themselves) and the battery was just fine.
I've realised something recently though, when I was using the app "App 2 SD" I was sending some apps to my System Memory in order to free space on Internal Memory.
What I noticed was that the apps in the System memory were the ones starting up themselves, so I moved them back to internal memory and they seem not to be starting again.
I'm keeping an eye on it because it's weird, but it's been almost one full day and my battery is doing okay, or that is what least seems to appear on my screen.

Pjedr said:
I noticed too my 32gb external card is not used by app2sd apps.
Now i swapped the cards in a configfile, and after restart i have 32gb internal sd and 8gb external so it is working.
I got this from the folloing thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189701
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi,
Which config file is this? Is this the config file for apps2sd or the vold.stab file? (I could no longer the thread in your link)
Thanks

I think apps auto running in background is the major bug in GB, and i also have this problem so you are not alone or the only one having this problem

Use of SD CARD

When I had a P1000, I used a lot the feature of sending applications and games and its data files to my SD CARD with a single purpose: leave the internal 16Gb memory as free as possible for better perfomance.
Now I have a rooted P6200 and I only can use my SD CARD for storing music and videos because I have no option of MOVE TO SD CARD anymore.
I also tried some applications that MOVE TO SD CARD, but none of them work.
I called the SAMSUNG SUPPORT and they told me I should be able to move to SD, but I read somewhere that it's something about the way that Android 3 and 4 manage partitions... what makes me believe I will not be able.
So, I am confused.
Can I move applications to SD CARD or not?
Can I make a application store data on SD CARD? Example: MailDroid or a game that consumes a lot of the memory - I would prefer to store data on the SD card.
Does anybody have a hint for that?
Thank you!

mario.renor said:
When I had a P1000, I used a lot the feature of sending applications and games and its data files to my SD CARD with a single purpose: leave the internal 16Gb memory as free as possible for better perfomance.
Now I have a rooted P6200 and I only can use my SD CARD for storing music and videos because I have no option of MOVE TO SD CARD anymore.
I also tried some applications that MOVE TO SD CARD, but none of them work.
I called the SAMSUNG SUPPORT and they told me I should be able to move to SD, but I read somewhere that it's something about the way that Android 3 and 4 manage partitions... what makes me believe I will not be able.
So, I am confused.
Can I move applications to SD CARD or not?
Can I make a application store data on SD CARD? Example: MailDroid or a game that consumes a lot of the memory - I would prefer to store data on the SD card.
Does anybody have a hint for that?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some apps in the Google Play Market like app 2 sd or move to sd (something like that), you can try one of those.
Personally I have no experience on these apps since I still have plenty of space, but you can read a little the features and see if that works for you

Unfortunately, APP2SD does not work to me
darkshadowx07 said:
There are some apps in the Google Play Market like app 2 sd or move to sd (something like that), you can try one of those.
Personally I have no experience on these apps since I still have plenty of space, but you can read a little the features and see if that works for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your suggestion, but when APP2SD starts, I receive this message:
Your device has no real primary external storage or primary storage is emulated
APP2SD will not support move 2 card.
I dont understand this message. I have the 16Gb internal memory plus a 32Gb SD card as s imple a s it can b e, but it is not moving to S D.
P lease someone help me how to solve it.
By the way, the 32Gb SD is fully recognized by the P6200. I can see all my files regularly.

Link2sd may work, but I don't think there would be any performance gain from moving the apps over.
Sent from my myTouch 4g via Tapatalk

Can I get super user access without rooting? Link2SD tells me I have to allow it to move the app.
Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

Kumabjorn said:
Can I get super user access without rooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Super User access is root access. so, no you can't.
Sent from my GT-P6210

From my point of view, rooting is something relatively easy, both to get and to lose: you just flash a zip from the default recovery. It does not even takes your flash count up. Basically, it's a single file that needs to be placed in "/system/bin/". If you need to send it to support, mount "system" as R/W and delete "su".
I could be wrong though, but you should really look into it. I think it is worth it.
By the way, I think you would have to partition your SD Card to use it with Link2SD...
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium

[Q] Move app and app data to SD?

So I have 16GB internal and a 64GB SD card. I noticed that when I go to apps and move an app to SD it doesn't move the apps data to SD. For example, Half-life is like 70ish MB but downloads 2GB of data. So when moved to SD it only moved the app 70MB to SD but 2GB of app data is still on internal storage. Is there any way to move the app data to SD as well?
I should point out I'm non-root android 5. I'd prefer not to root but if that's the only way I can I guess. I don't mind if it takes a paid app within reason but would prefer a free app if it takes an app. Thanks

I don't know about Lollipop - haven't updated yet - and I don't know about HL2 - I don't have it - but on KitKat, for the GTA games at least, it doesn't say it's moving the data (in the app listing the amount of data on internal storage doesn't change) but when I look at the available internal storage, it does actually move most of the data. Sure that's not happening?

Slashee the Cow said:
I don't know about Lollipop - haven't updated yet - and I don't know about HL2 - I don't have it - but on KitKat, for the GTA games at least, it doesn't say it's moving the data (in the app listing the amount of data on internal storage doesn't change) but when I look at the available internal storage, it does actually move most of the data. Sure that's not happening?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooted my Tablet. Found there are apps like Link2SD which can do this. However Link2SD wouldnt work for me. Followed directions and partioned/formatted card and started app, select format of 2nd partion (ext4) and reboot. After reboot app crashes and reopening prompts again. Couldnt resolve this. Any recommendations would be great. Thanks

Eat it iPhone said:
Rooted my Tablet. Found there are apps like Link2SD which can do this. However Link2SD wouldnt work for me. Followed directions and partioned/formatted card and started app, select format of 2nd partion (ext4) and reboot. After reboot app crashes and reopening prompts again. Couldnt resolve this. Any recommendations would be great. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use foldermount.

As stated above, foldermount works wonders, especially for a gaming tablet.
It will also fix the SD card write limits in KK and L (L has eased up, but apps need to be updated to use the new APIs, so many still can't use the SD card).
I have saved some 6 gigs with this from my internal. Now if I could get a bigger SD card. Haha.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devasque.fmount
(Well worth buying pro).

Thanks everyone. Using folder mount and so far so good.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using XDA Free mobile app

200MB free is considered low on storage?

My phone (Samsung Galaxy On5) has over 200 mb of storage free, & it still alerts me daily that I'm running low on storage. If I try to install anything from the play store, even something that's less than a MB in size it displays a popup asking me to uninstall a bunch of apps to make room. I just installed something on another device then transferred it over to this one (saved on SD so It's not taking up any internal space) & tried to sideload it & it still wouldn't install it. Is there a fix? It seems to me like Google has no real interest in fixing major issues with Android that have existed practically since the beginning like devices being "low on storage" while Android is the top mobile OS. Perhaps if something like Pinephone would actually succeed & give Android some competition Google would care & address the issues? /r (By the way, there really should be an '<r> </r>' tag.)

tsaxda said:
My phone (Samsung Galaxy On5) has over 200 mb of storage free, & it still alerts me daily that I'm running low on storage. If I try to install anything from the play store, even something that's less than a MB in size it displays a popup asking me to uninstall a bunch of apps to make room. I just installed something on another device then transferred it over to this one (saved on SD so It's not taking up any internal space) & tried to sideload it & it still wouldn't install it.
the issues? /r (By the way, there really should be an '<r> </r>' tag.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well yeah, 200MB is definitely low on storage. And this message can certainly be annoying but it's not a bug, but a "security" mesure, if you need to take a photo or something, or if an app needs more space to run, it'd be a good thing to have 200MB leftover.

Nowadays apps can take >200Mb just for cache so yeah, it's considered nothing. I personally try to keep at least 1GB free.
Have you checked your storage whether something can be deleted? This is a great app for showing you storage use

You can put in up to a 256 gb SD card, what are you waiting for?
Use internal memory for the OS, programs and downloads (temporarily).
Use the SD card as the data drive.

Yeh, Up to 256 gb SD card should work a treat...

galaxys said:
Yeh, Up to 256 gb SD card should work a treat...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10+ takes up to 1 tb, put a Lexar .5 tb V30 in it for $75. Not too shabby... daul drives are a beautiful thing. Can do a full reload now with no PC and little or no internet connection; completely self contained.

Very cool indeed!

galaxys said:
Very cool indeed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The newer generations of Samsung's are capable of very faster read/write times on a fast sd card.
The 10+ shows no lag when using media files off the card. Literally have over 200 albums stored as .wav files there and movies too.
Provides a little bit of a buffer too from malware getting into the data; I've picked off a couple in the downloads folder before they got going including a jpeg. The whole card is backed up on the PC and a 2nd hdd... just in case.
Lol, have an old Dell e6400 laptop I picked up cheap. Just realized 3 weeks ago I could swap out the DVD/CD player for a hot swappable hdd insert tray... $100 latter it now has a 2tb data drive. Split the page file between the two for now, OS and data speeds are a lot better.
You can -never- have too many internal bays on any device, only not enough.

blackhawk said:
Use the SD card as the data drive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by "set it as the data drive"?

The problem is I factory reset because of being low on storage, & left off a lot of the apps I had before & I'm still every bit as low on storage as I was before if not more. What am I supposed to do when I'm not the one at fault for my phone being low on storage? I would root so I could rip out all of the samsung bloat but A. I can't afford to buy a new phone should something go wrong, & B. I don't think the galaxy On5 has a 1-click root which means having to use a windows computer which I don't have.

Android phones have an in-built feature known as Adoptable Storage, which enables users to add an extra layer of storage space for music, pictures, videos, files, and so on.
The interesting thing is that the Adoptable Storage feature allows SD cards to serve as a permanent internal storage medium. This means that everything you save on your phone will be moved to the external storage (SD card) you mounted, and not your phone's internal storage. With SD cards in play, you never have to worry about your phone's storage getting full, and developing lagging problems.

I looked it up & from what I can tell it's disabled on my phone (Thanks again Samsung.). So that's not an option. Yet another reason to steer clear of Sammy if at all possible. I remember Google saying when they gave the first presentation on android that they wouldn't allow preinstalled, un-removable, then they did, & still do.

tsaxda said:
The problem is I factory reset because of being low on storage, & left off a lot of the apps I had before & I'm still every bit as low on storage as I was before if not more. What am I supposed to do when I'm not the one at fault for my phone being low on storage? I would root so I could rip out all of the samsung bloat but A. I can't afford to buy a new phone should something go wrong, & B. I don't think the galaxy On5 has a 1-click root which means having to use a windows computer which I don't have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use 20gb just for apps, caches and a tempory download folder. So if you 16gb of memory yeah I see the issue and had to trim the the tree with S4+ before.
Use this package disabler:
Home - Package Disabler
The only NON-root solution that let’s you disable any unwanted packages that come pre-installed / installed with your phone / tablet.
www.packagedisabler.com
Disable crap you don't need and then use that same app to clear it's data. The app is still there just not running and sucking up memory by adding more via data/cache.
Clear browser cache regularly, limit the phone to two browsers max. Clear data regularly on gmaps if you don't need that data or disable if you don't use it. Police the caches regularly, SD Maid (16mb) does a good job.
As for your music, vids, documents, pics, put all of that on an SD card.
Although you can use the SD card as internal memory as jwoegerbauer points out it's best not to unless you can't avoid it. You may have to though if you can't live without some of those large user installed apps.
I could cut my 10+ down to 14gb internal if I had too... so can you.
There are apps I rarely use. As pointed out already you should have at least 1gb of free space preferably 2gb or more head room.
Sort it out as what you're doing now isn't good Android husbandry.

tsaxda said:
I looked it up & from what I can tell it's disabled on my phone (Thanks again Samsung.). So that's not an option. Yet another reason to steer clear of Sammy if at all possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not on your model without root apperantly.
How to adopt SD card as internal storage on Samsung devices?
I recently upgraded to 6.0.1 Marshmallow on my Galaxy S5 and I would like to adopt an SD card as internal storage. However, there is no option to do this. When I format the SD card, there is no "
android.stackexchange.com
It can cause operational issues anyway including crashes. Try to use the KISS (keep it simple studip) principle whenever possible to limit things that can go wrong.

tsaxda said:
I looked it up & from what I can tell it's disabled on my phone (Thanks again Samsung.). So that's not an option. Yet another reason to steer clear of Sammy if at all possible. I remember Google saying when they gave the first presentation on android that they wouldn't allow preinstalled, un-removable, then they did, & still do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whether Adoptable Storage is default feature on a phone or not can easily queried with following ADB command sequence:
Code:
adb devices
adb shell "sm has-adoptable"
If true is returned than phone has this feature.

tsaxda said:
My phone (Samsung Galaxy On5) has over 200 mb of storage free, & it still alerts me daily that I'm running low on storage. If I try to install anything from the play store, even something that's less than a MB in size it displays a popup asking me to uninstall a bunch of apps to make room. I just installed something on another device then transferred it over to this one (saved on SD so It's not taking up any internal space) & tried to sideload it & it still wouldn't install it. Is there a fix? It seems to me like Google has no real interest in fixing major issues with Android that have existed practically since the beginning like devices being "low on storage" while Android is the top mobile OS. Perhaps if something like Pinephone would actually succeed & give Android some competition Google would care & address the issues? /r (By the way, there really should be an '<r> </r>' tag.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
200mb its nothing storage broh